At INFODAD, we rank everything we review with plus signs, on a scale from one (+) [disappointing] to four (++++) [definitely worth considering]. We mostly review (+++) or better items. Very rarely, we give an exceptional item a fifth plus. We are independent reviewers and, as parents, want to help families learn which books, music, and computer-related items we and our children love...or hate. INFODAD is a service of TransCentury Communications, Inc., Fort Myers, Florida, infodad@gmail.com.

November 14, 2013

(+++) GIFTS FOR FANS

Warriors: The Ultimate Guide.
By Erin Hunter. Harper. $19.99.

Cody Simpson: Welcome to
Paradise—My Journey. Harper. $21.99.

The Wildwood Chronicles, Book II:
Under Wildwood. By Colin Meloy. Illustrations by Carson Ellis. Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins.
$9.99.

Stick Dog Wants a Hot Dog. By
Tom Watson. Harper. $12.99.

My Weird School Special: Deck the
Halls, We’re Off the Walls! By Dan Gutman. Pictures by Jim Paillot. Harper.
$4.99.

As the holiday season
rapidly approaches, families are certain to be on the lookout for gifts that
are sure to please – which means that books directed at a specific fan base
will be particularly welcome. If you are looking for a big, well-produced book
that will be a significant present for someone who loves the Warriors series about cat clans, a cat
civilization and cat-focused otherworldly mysteries, then Warriors: The Ultimate Guide will be a great choice. A handsome
hardcover volume packed with attractive illustrations that really show the cats’
different personalities, the book includes full descriptions of many of the
members of Thunderclan, Shadowclan, Windclan, Riverclan, Skyclan and the Tribe
of Rushing Water, and also features sections called “The Early Settlers” and
“Animals Outside the Clans.” Several short stories are included in addition to
the descriptive material, and the whole book makes it clear just how well the
team that writes as Erin Hunter (Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, Gillian Philip,
Inbali Iserles, Tui Sutherland and editor Victoria Holmes) works together to
produce seamless narratives in a complex, multifaceted world where all the
parts fit together very well indeed.

Fans of Australian singer
Cody Simpson will welcome the chance to revel in his supposedly autobiographical
thoughts and his feelings about music and success in Cody Simpson: Welcome to Paradise—My Journey, one of those books
that professes to show that a 16-year-old has in fact had a “journey” in life
and, what’s more, is able to write about it himself (of course he is not the
author, but the actual author remains uncredited). Here are comments that are
entirely typical for books about and supposedly by pop stars, but with a slight
Australian skew to reflect the fact that Simpson is from Queensland: “Honestly,
if I have downtime, I’d rather be outside, surfing or skating or hanging with
my mates.” There is nothing particularly revelatory here, nothing that would
interfere with the carefully crafted and well-packaged Cody Simpson image: “It
took a while for it all to sink in. I hadn’t really thought about what it would
mean to be a professional musician. I was so focused on swimming, and I was
only 13 years old. …Not surprisingly, my swimming suffered when I was traveling
back and forth to the States.” For most fans, the big attraction will in any
case not be the words but the pictures, of which there are plenty – again,
carefully selected to reflect the packaged image that Simpson and his music are
supposed to evoke. Non-fans will have not the slightest interest in this
oversize hardcover book, but those who are devoted to Simpson will enjoy it
from start to finish.

Of course, there are plenty
of gift books out there for fans of other sorts, and some of them can be
particular bargains. The new, well-priced paperback edition of Under Wildwood, which appeared in
hardcover last year, is an example. At nearly 600 pages, this second book of
Colin Meloy’s trilogy, amply illustrated by Carson Ellis, contains plenty of
adventure and intrigue for fans originally captivated by the first book, simply
called Wildwood. The series focuses
on the dense, tangled forest called the Impassable Wilderness, said to be on
the edge of Portland (not coincidentally, Meloy, Ellis and their son live in
Portland, Oregon). Prue McKeel and her friend, Curtis, discover many of the
usual tropes of fantasy in the forest, from warring creatures to dark doings of
all sorts; echoes of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia stories will be clear to those who
know those tales. After the rescue mission of the first book, the second starts
with Prue living a rather dull, mundane life until – no surprise – she is drawn
back to Wildwood, which is being torn asunder by the usual evil doings as well
as some unusual ones relating to titans of industry (who tend to be notably
absent in other fantasy novels).Prue
and Curtis do indeed need to go under Wildwood, as the book’s title implies, to
succeed in their second quest, and it is clear from the book’s poetic
conclusion that there is more to come – which it does in the trilogy’s finale, Wildwood Imperium. Fans of the first
book who have not yet read the whole series will have plenty to keep them
enthralled in the second installment.

And let us not forget
smaller books that can serve, literally or metaphorically, as stocking
stuffers. Stick Dog Wants a Hot Dog
is for fans of the original Stick Dog
book by Tom Watson, and they will certainly agree with the comment on the cover
that this is “another really GOOD story with kind of BAD drawings.” That is the
positioning of Watson’s books and part of their fun: Stick Dog is so simply
drawn that just about anyone can re-create him, but his big eyes, thought
balloons and endearing nature add up to gentle amusement. Watson’s writing
style certainly helps, as when Karen the dachshund explains about telling time:
“‘I know all the o’clocks. Two o’clock. Seven o’clock. Fifty-three o’clock.
Tomato o’clock. All of them!’” Helicopters, raccoons, a large and bearded
stomping man, a completely misunderstood human exercise session, and a rescue
that involves Karen jumping from an upstairs window into a sheet all stand in
the way of a journey to “Peter’s Frankfurters” – which, however, is successful
at the end, leaving everyone and everything quite satisfied, especially Stick
Dog’s stomach.

And in more orless the same vein, Dan Gutman’s
Christmas-themed My Weird School
foray will be great for fans of the various Gutman school-oriented series. Everything
is here, from the funeral for Striker Smith’s head after the action figure is
decapitated by a school bus, to a visit to a Santa with bad breath and maybe “a
GPS and state-of-the-art surveillance technology.” An escaped petting-zoo
reindeer, a rapper named Cray-Z, Officer Spence on a Segway, and other entirely
typical elements of Gutman madness are complemented by weird Christmas facts –
about the first song broadcast from space, the real meaning of “mistletoe,” a
mall with an indoor ski slope, the Santa Claus Museum in Columbus, Texas, and
more. There are also a few pages of games, puzzles and Weird-School-focused
trivia questions, all adding up to a seasonal feast for the eyes and a
temporarily engaging treat for the brain – at least the brains of Gutman
devotees.